The present invention relates to a self-service business system.
Fraudulent use of self-service business systems such as automated teller machine (ATM) systems has become a substantial problem for banks and other financial institutions. Customer complaints have been received that "phantom withdrawals" have been made from their accounts by persons passing themselves off as the customers.
In an attempt to reduce the likelihood of fraud occurring, it is known to use biometrics for confirmation of user identity in a self-service system. Biometrics relates to the analysis of biological observations and phenomena. More particularly, in the present context, it relates to the measurement and evaluation of certain physical characteristics which vary from person to person. Biometric identification systems have been developed and are in use today. One such system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,764, issued Jul. 20, 1993, inventors Noel D. Matchett et al., entitled "Continuous Biometric Authentication Matrix". The publication "Electronic Banking 1", published by "POST-NEWS", Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset TA14 6BR England, Copyright 1991, discusses the use of biometrics in connection with electronic banking and identifies five types of biometric identification: signature verification, hand geometry, finger and palm print comparison, voiceprint measurement and retinal or iris eye scanning. A sixth type, vein patterns, is identified as having recently been designed. When a biometric assessment is made, a value is calculated for each user. This value is compared with a predefined reference value to decide whether to accept or reject a user. The use of biometrics to confirm the identity of a user is not always completely accurate. Because of the limitations of the technique, there is always a false acceptance rate and a false reject rate. Even though these rates usually lie within the range of 0.1% and 3%, depending upon the biometric used, this can still be unacceptable for banks.